ARCHIVED — Vol. 148, No. 23 — November 5, 2014

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Registration

SOR/2014-240 October 24, 2014

PILOTAGE ACT

Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Regulations

P.C. 2014-1121 October 23, 2014

RESOLUTION

Whereas the Pacific Pilotage Authority, pursuant to subsection 20(3) of the Pilotage Act(see footnote a), published a copy of the proposed Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Regulations, substantially in the annexed form, in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on June 7, 2014;

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, pursuant to subsection 20(1) of the Pilotage Act(see footnote c), approves the annexed Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Regulations, made by the Pacific Pilotage Authority.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE PACIFIC PILOTAGE REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

2. The portion of section 5 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

5. In addition to the certificates required by subsection 10(1) of the General Pilotage Regulations, an applicant for or a holder of a licence or a pilotage certificate shall hold a training certificate indicating that they have successfully completed a course approved in accordance with section 114 of the Marine Personnel Regulations

3. Section 14 of the Regulations and the heading before it are repealed.

4. Section 29 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

29. (1) If a ship that is subject to compulsory pilotage or a ship in respect of which a waiver of compulsory pilotage has been granted is involved in a marine occurrence in a compulsory pilotage area, the person who has the conduct of the ship at the time of the marine occurrence shall submit a full report on the marine occurrence to the Authority on a form provided by the Authority for that use.

(2) If the person who has the conduct of the ship at the time of the marine occurrence is not the master, the master shall also submit a full report on the marine occurrence to the Authority on a form provided by the Authority for that use.

(3) A person who is required to submit a full report on the marine occurrence shall do so

(a) within 72 hours after the marine occurrence; or

(b) within an additional period of time granted to the person by the Authority under subsection (4).

(4) The Authority shall grant an additional period of time if the Authority is notified within 72 hours after the marine occurrence that the person is unable to submit the report within those 72 hours because the person was injured in the marine occurrence or because the person is in a remote location that does not have a scheduled transportation service or a communication system that can be used to submit the report.

COMING INTO FORCE

5. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

After the Pacific Pilotage Regulations (the Regulations) were reviewed, the following issues were found:

Since Transport Canada amended the General Pilotage Regulations (GPR), some references to it, found in section 5 of the Regulations, have become inaccurate;

Two errors, one in the coordinates for coastal pilotage area 5, and another inadvertently omitting “licensed pilot” from the requirements of the marine occurrence report, were found in the Regulations and need to be rectified; and

The existing paper-based billing system is inefficient. Pilots do not return source cards until they return to their home base, and industry sometimes does not receive invoices for five full days after the assignment, which makes it more difficult for the Pacific Pilotage Authority (the Authority) to get payment.

Background

The Authority is a financially autonomous Crown corporation whose role is to establish, operate, maintain and administer in the interests of safety an efficient and economical pilotage service within all coastal waters of the west coast of Canada, including the Fraser River. Section 20 of the Pilotage Act (the Act) enables the Authority to make regulations with the approval of the Governor in Council for the attainment of its objectives.

Objectives

The primary objective is to ensure that these amendments meet the Authority’s mandate of providing a safe and efficient marine pilotage service on the Pacific coast of Canada.

The amendments will also

ensure accurate references to the GPR in the Regulations;

rectify the geo-reference found in section 3 and add the term “licensed pilot” in section 29; and

improve the billing system.

Description

The amendments ensure that the Regulations reflect the recent changes to the GPR by amending section 5, “Certificates.” Reference to subsection 10(4) will be changed to subsection 10(1), and reference to section 11 will be deleted as this section has been repealed in the GPR.

In section 3 of the Regulations, the 12th coordinate (52°31′24″ N; 133°04′36″ W) in the description for coastal pilotage area 5 should read 53°31′24″ N; 133°04′36″ W.

The amendment to section 29, “Marine Occurrence Report,” is required to rectify an error that occurred in the last amendment where “licensed pilot” was omitted from the Regulations. By adding the requirement for licensed pilots to submit a marine occurrence report to the Authority, this omission will be rectified.

Section 14, “Source Cards,” is to be removed in its entirety. The Authority is moving towards electronic source cards which will make redundant the requirement to complete the source card and have it signed by the master. With respect to the removal of section 14, there will be a benefit to the Authority by streamlining the administration of the cards, and for the industry, the benefit is a more timely invoice. The industry often complains that the invoice is sometimes not received until up to five days after the ship has departed, which makes the Authority’s job of getting the funds more difficult. The reason for this is that pilots often go from assignment to assignment and the Authority only gets the source cards once they return to their home base, which could be three days after they have left. With the move to electronic source cards, industry will get the invoice within 48 hours.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this amendment, as there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to this amendment.

Consultation

Consultation with the various stakeholders began in 2012 with a discussion paper on the regulatory changes being provided to all the affected parties on the West Coast, including the Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia, its members and its non-members, the Council of Marine Carriers, the British Columbia Coast Pilots Limited and the Fraser River Pilots.

These amendments were published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on June 7, 2014, followed by a 30-day comment period. On July 4, 2014, the Canadian Marine Pilots’ Association and the British Columbia Coast Pilots Limited made a representation concerning the proposed amendments to subsection 29(2). Both parties believed that the provision could be clearer.

To address these concerns, Transport Canada proposed the following wording, which also achieves the intended policy result of including licensed pilots in the marine occurrence report scheme:

29. (1) If a ship that is subject to compulsory pilotage or in respect of which a waiver of pilotage has been granted is involved in a marine occurrence in a compulsory pilotage area, “the person who has the conduct of the ship at the time of the marine occurrence” shall submit a full report on the marine occurrence to the Authority on a form provided by the Authority for that use.

(2) If the person who has the conduct of the ship at the time of the marine occurrence is not the master, the master shall also submit a full report on the marine occurrence to the Authority on a form provided by the Authority for that use.

(3) A person who is required to submit a full report on the marine occurrence shall do so

(a) within 72 hours after the marine occurrence; or

(b) within an additional period of time granted to the person by the Authority under subsection (4).

On July 18, 2014, both parties and the Authority agreed to the proposed wording.

Rationale

For all of the amendments, retention of the status quo is not an acceptable alternative and was rejected as an option. A revision was the only practical alternative in order to ensure that the Regulations were brought into line with recent legislative and regulatory reform, as well as to identify and meet stakeholder and Authority needs and concerns.

These changes do not have any costs associated with them and there will be no additional cost to the industry as a result of these changes.

These amendments do not have any impact on the environment.

Implementation, enforcement, and service standards

Compliance with the amended Regulations will be monitored and overseen by the Authority in cooperation with the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Services, Transport Canada Ship Safety Officers, the British Columbia Coast Pilots Limited and the agents representing the vessels calling at West Coast ports.

Section 47 of the Act provides that, except where an Authority waives compulsory pilotage, the owner, master or the person in charge of a ship subject to compulsory pilotage that proceeds through a compulsory pilotage area not under the conduct of a licensed pilot or the holder of a pilotage certificate is guilty of an offence.

Section 48 of the Act stipulates that every person who contravenes or fails to comply with the Act or the regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.